From its incendiary onset in the 1950s, rock-and-roll has oft-times been disparaged as “the devil’s music.” Yet Christian rock has long run parallel to the more incendiary gen-pop variety. Elvis Presley’s 1957 gospel album Peace in the Valley, for example, provided an early bridge between age-old divine sounds and the Eisenhower-era’s diabolical new music revolution.

As with the central figure in those gospel songs, Elvis acquired a vast multitude of followers over whom he has exuded great influence. It seems inevitable, then, that those disciples of the King of Rock-and-Roll would, on occasion, cross musical paths with the King of Kings.

The Rolling Stones announce a North American tour, Louis Tomlinson lashes out after Naughty Boy drops a Zayn Malik collaboration, Kendrick Lamar will headline Hot 97’s Summer Jam, and more on First Dibs.

Musicians are known for being a sad bunch. They often channel their feelings in a much more refined way than you or I am capable of — song, and we love them for it. Some artists in particular were affected by a tragedy in one way or another, and retold the story through song. Others produced songs that had tragic backstories. From James Taylor‘s “Fire And Rain” to Led Zeppelin‘s “All My Love,” here are 15 classic songs associated with real-life tragic tales.

The ‘Good Doctor,’ Dr. Dre turns 50 years-old today, marking another major milestone in the life of an artist who has seen it all. Who would’ve ever thought the man sonically responsible for such classics as The Chronic and Doggystyle, would end up a billionaire with a global brand as recognizable as the golden arches?

We here at VH1 music consider ourselves pretty big music fans and connoisseurs, but even we have our limits. Some music lovers will go so far as to devote their entire lives to a single artist–becoming experts and authorities on their lives, collecting and displaying memorabilia and artifacts. From grand gestures like building exact replicas of Britney Spears’ bedroom and Elvis Presley‘s Graceland mansion, to protecting minutiae like Johnny Cash‘s AmEx and a guitar pick that Keith Richards threw at you, the time and effort put in to these 10 museums and shrines put even MTV Fanatic (RIP) fans to shame.

Check out these 10 totally bonkers museums and shrines dedicated to musical heroes.

Try to imagine a Beatles-produced Lord of the Rings starring Paul McCartney as Frodo and John Lennon as Gollum. Now ponder A Clockwork Orange with Mick Jagger as bowler-hatted psycho Alex and Keith Richards as his number-two droog, Georgie. How about Pink Floyd scoring the otherworldly soundtrack to Dune? Or Van Halen blowing up Rock-‘n’ Roll High School?

While these premises may sound like bong-scented conversation snippets among vintage rock and cult movie fans, each and every one of those film possibilities came tantalizingly close to becoming celluloid reality.

In the uncanny pop valley at the dawn of the ’80s—specifically, after disco and before MTV—the music industry bet big on new wave to be the future of rock. Punk had proven too (ob)noxious for mainstream tastes (and heavy metal was essentially taking care of itself), so the record biz turned to the safety-pin brigade’s arty, quirky, less abrasive offshoot “new wave.” Two forms were most prevalent: peppy power-pop as embodied by the Knack and synthesizer-driven dance weirdness on the order of Devo.

Many other new wave acts fell somewhere in between, with Elvis Costello, Blondie, Talking Heads, Billy Idol, and Duran Duran dominating dawn-of-the-’80s radio airwaves and LP sales. It all seemed to spell doom to a multitude of longhaired, bell-bottomed, meanderingly jamming ’70s rockers that had previously ruled radio and record stores. Some of the previous decade’s arena-packers stood their ground and waited for new wave to get old and dry up. Others, though, adjusted their looks and sounds in an attempt to evolve, embracing the notion of “pogo or perish”—at least for a while.